Achoo!
by Prisoner of Azkaban711
Summary: Written for the Quidditch League Round 13 - Sirius is ill with a cold and Remus decides that he's going to look after him. No slash.


Author's note: This is written for the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition (Round 13) "Go wild". Well, this is the last complete round of the Quidditch League :( Though hopefully we'll get through to the finals and I'll continue to write! I was ill last week so I decided to use that as my inspiration for this story. Enjoy!

Task: None

Prompts used: (word) repeat, (dialogue) "Because you're mental, that's why!" and (word) echo.

Disclaimer: Unfortunately I do not own Harry Potter.

Remus tapped his quill irritably against the side of his wooden desk, as Sirius' cough echoed around the silent classroom.

Whilst trying to come up with a decent way to start the last answer to his test, Remus had decided that he would have to keep himself distracted, or else he might actually lean across the aisle between their desks and strangle the dark haired boy himself.

He knew that Sirius couldn't help having a cold, but his constant sniffling and coughing was beginning to reach an unbearable level, leaving Remus no choice but to take matters into his own hands.

He finally managed to come up with a good starting point for the question and blocked out the world around him, pausing only once when Sirius coughed particularly loudly.

"Time's up," Professor McGonagall said, daring any of her students to carry on writing.

Remus put his grey feather quill down on the desk and waited for the test papers to be collected. However, he was once again acutely aware of every sniff and cough that came from the seat next to him.

'He had better get better soon,' Remus thought to himself indignantly, trying not to imagine another week of it.

Professor McGonagall was collecting papers from Sirius' row of desks, neatly placing them face down in a pile in her arms. However, just as she reached out to take Peter's test, who was seated diagonally opposite from Remus, Sirius sneezed so loudly that she jumped, sending all of the test papers flying across the cold flagstones.

"Mr Black," she said sternly, moving to stand next to his desk which caused Sirius to cower in his seat, "If you are not well, I suggest you go to the hospital wing before you cause any serious damage."

She turned abruptly, waving her wand, which sent all of the lost papers flying into a neat tower on her desk at the front.

Remus looked across at his best friend, who really did look quite sick. His face had paled considerably since that morning, making his dry, cracked lips stand out from his ashen cheeks. His eyes were a little red and watery and he looked immensely tired. Remus suddenly felt awful for being angry at him earlier, now that he saw the state he was in.

"Come on, Sirius," Remus said, quickly picking up his and Sirius' bags from under the desks, "Let's see if Madam Pomfrey can help you at all."

He took Sirius by the arm and led him out of the classroom, with only a little hesitance on Sirius' part, though he eventually walked willingly in the direction of the hospital wing.

OoOoO

"Yes, it's just a cold," Madam Pomfrey concluded, after having thoroughly checked Sirius' symptoms, "and a fast acting one at that. You say that he wasn't like this, this morning?"

"No," Remus replied, looking at the other boy currently sat on the edge of one of the beds, "his voice was a little bit croaky earlier, but nothing like this."

"It came on really quickly," Sirius interjected, "I felt a bit ill earlier, I feel a lot ill now."

Madam Pomfrey nodded her head, and turned to a small cabinet mounted on the wall, pulling out a couple of small vials.

"Unfortunately, even I cannot cure the common cold, Mr Black, but these might help you to sleep tonight," she said, handing the crystal vials to Remus, who took them gratefully. "He'll need three drops of the blue and five of the orange before he goes to bed and again in the morning. Come and see me if there doesn't seem to be any improvement."

"Thank you, Madam Pomfrey," Remus said, smiling at her. She returned the smile before saying:

"Oh, and Mr Black, you have my permission to take tomorrow off. You need to rest."

Sirius nodded and slid off of the neatly made bed, heading towards the exit with Remus leading the way.

OoOoO

"Right, so, it's three drops of this one," Remus said, looking intently at the small glass containers, "I wonder what these actually are…"

"Remus, I'm dying here," Sirius croaked out as Remus mused about the vials contents.

"Sorry, Padfoot," Remus replied, blushing slightly as he uncorked the first bottle and dropped three pale blue droplets into Sirius' open mouth.

Sirius swallowed, but immediately seemed to regret it. He shivered and his expression told Remus that the blue potion tasted revolting.

Remus tried not to laugh at Sirius' reaction, knowing that it would not help the situation and that he had to at least try to be comforting to the other boy. He hoped that the orange potion would not be a repeat of the last.

"Just one more," Remus said, dripping the orange potion into a small glass, so that Sirius could drink it. He handed him the potion and then set about making sure that there were plenty of tissues by the bedside and enough water to see him through the night.

Sirius seemed to hate the orange potion even more than the blue one, having reached over to his bedside table and downing the glass of water Remus had put there. But, when Remus returned from the bathroom with another full glass, it already seemed to have already started to take effect. Both the coughing and sniffling had partially subsided and Sirius looked a little more alert.

"I should call you 'Doctor Moony'," Sirius pondered, looking at the Werewolf, who was busy arranging another glass of water on the already full table, "why _do_ you want to look after me anyway?"

"Because you're mental, that's why!" Remus replied, sitting down on the edge of Sirius' bed, "without me, you'd have struggled through the rest of the day, given your cold to everyone in the school and then not have been able to sleep tonight, whereas now, you might actually be able to get better."

Remus looked at the other boy, who deliberated his answer slightly, before smiling gratefully back at him.

"Yeah, you're probably right," Sirius said, snuggling a bit further into his duvet, "but now you might have it Moony. You've been around me all day."

"Well, I expect you to help me when I come down with it," Remus said, looking straight-faced at his friend, "this isn't a free favour Pads."

Sirius laughed, but then started coughing instead, causing Remus to grab the water off the side and make Sirius take a sip.

"On that note, I think we should probably go to bed," Remus said, when Sirius had settled down again. Sirius nodded in agreement and allowed Remus to pull the curtains around his four-poster.

"Night, Padfoot," he heard from the other side of the room.

"Goodnight, Doctor Moony," he replied.

 **A/N:** Thanks for reading! The first part of this story is actually based on the time that I coughed pretty much every three minutes in a two hour exam… I legitimately thought one of the people sat around me was going to kill me. Anyway, please leave a review!


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